Diesel fuel engines have become increasingly complex to meet both mileage requirements and environmental standards. As such, diesel fuel being delivered to these highly technical engines is required to be both particulate-free and substantially absent of water and air, all of which can reduce diesel fuel engine performance and durability.
Presently, diesel fuel is filtered using a cylindrical filter making use of a concentric filtration arrangement. A particulate filter that separates particulates from the diesel fuel is disposed within a tubular housing. A water separator, when included, is typically aligned in the central portion of the tubular housing in a concentric orientation relative to the filtration media. The water separator reduces the amount of water disposed in the diesel fuel prior to delivering diesel fuel to the diesel engine. During operation, diesel fuel passes through the particulate filter media and subsequently through the water filtration system formed from one or more concentric layers before exiting the cylindrical filter. Although this design has proved functional for many years, the can-like shape of the filter housing has become increasingly problematic. For example, decreasing packaging space for filtration systems within an engine compartment is driving alternative designs for filtration assemblies. Limited space between the filter media and the water separator does not provide sufficient diffusion of the water prior to separation, an arrangement that has not proved adequate with can-like shape filtration assemblies.
In addition, improved service of fuel filtration systems is also of interest to both the consumers, the shops that service the fuel filtration systems and the customers. Service requiring technical proficiency can result in inadequate fuel filtration or failure of the filtrations system altogether.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an optimized design of a filtration assembly capable of meeting the demands of new, highly technical diesel engines, while providing improved serviceability.